There have been recent substantial advances in the capacity to design customized audio visual programs for specific purposes from a library of existing video clips and audio elements. Customization of audiovisual programing is useful in many applications. For example, in advertising certain products, and in particular automobiles, one promotional technique is to prepare promotional videotapes which are sent to potential customers on their request. The desirability of customizing such videotapes to demographic or other characteristics of individual consumers are of course substantial. Health care practitioners and managed care entities have begun to provide instructional videotapes to patients with information regarding managing of various diseases and conditions. Customizing of such information to the disease and condition of the individual, and demographic characteristics of the individual, such as age, income, educational level, psychographic characteristics such as perceived wellness and willingness to change behaviors, and other factors, would be valuable for increasing the effectiveness of such video tapes in communicating the information to the recipient.
In accordance with present technology, it is possible to create and store a library of brief video clips, and provide a database of information regarding these clips. However, in accordance with the present technology, a human editor must make the ultimate selection of individual clips, and provide the final editing decisions, creation and selection of transitions so that there is a smooth visual and audio transition between adjoining clips in the program, and checking of the content of the clips to determine that there is proper coverage of the appropriate subject matter in an appropriate sequence. Automating of this editing process would make possible substantial flexibility and new possibilities for creation of audiovisual programming.
Once videotapes have been provided to the user, it is difficult to verify whether or not the user has viewed the program. Even if the program has been viewed, the level of comprehension is difficult to assess.
It is accordingly an advantage of this invention that the disadvantages of the prior art may be overcome.
Additional advantages of the invention, and objects of the invention, will become apparent from the detailed description of a preferred embodiment which follows.